News Updates

The South Carolina Board of Education has voted its "continued
support" for a widely used critical-thinking program that some parents
had charged could predispose their children to "New Age" religious
practices.

The board voted 7 to 6 this month in favor of keeping the "Tactics
for Thinking" program on its list of recommended curricula. The
program, developed by the Mid-continent Regional Educational
Laboratory, a federally funded education-research group, is one of the
more popular nationally available thinking-skills programs. (See
Education Week, Jan., 30, 1991.)

The program, already in use in dozens of districts in the state, had
drawn fire from some parents who said it encouraged Eastern religious
practices such as meditation and hypnosis and that it would undermine
the value systems they had taught their children.

The program has also run into trouble in several districts in
Washington State and Indiana.

North Quincy (Mass.) High School has been ordered to drop its American
Indian mascot "Yakoo" and to find a new mascot following complaints
that the caricature was a derogatory stereotype.

Schools Superintendent Robert Ricci ordered the symbol removed from
the gymnasium floor and from all official documents. The mascot still
may appear on student clothing, souvenirs, and publications.

Mr. Ricci's decision overrides a recommendation of a committee of
parents, teachers, students, and alumni who last month recommended that
the symbol be retained.

The Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination had begun an
investigation of North Quincy and another district after the head of
the state's Indian affairs office had failed in negotiations to get
districts to drop their images of "warlike" Indians. (See Education
Week, Feb. 27, 1991.)

The disputed caricature is based on a drawing of Allan H. Yacubian,
a 1958 graduate of the school and an Armenian-American who is now a
dentist.

Students will be asked to select a new mascot.

A state judge has dismissed a suit filed by four losing candidates in
April's elections for the St. Louis school board.

The candidates, members of Friends and Advocates of Neighborhood
Schools, had pledged to seek an immediate end to court-ordered student
busing in the city. Candidates running on the winning 4 Candidates 4
Kids ticket won all four seats handily. Voters also approved two ballot
proposals that had been backed by the 4 Candidates slate. (See
Education Week, April 10, 1991.)

The losing candidates filed suit against the winners, charging that
widespread voter fraud had led to their defeat. They contended that
they would have won the election if a number of improperly cast ballots
had been disallowed.

Lawyers for the winning slate argued that not enough cases of
potential fraud had been reported to change the outcome of the
election. Circuit Judge Edward M. Peek dismissed the suit last
week.

A state judge has dismissed a suit filed by four losing candidates in
April's elections for the St. Louis school board.

The candidates, members of Friends and Advocates of Neighborhood
Schools, had pledged to seek an immediate end to court-ordered student
busing in the city. Candidates running on the winning 4 Candidates 4
Kids ticket won all four seats handily. Voters also approved two ballot
proposals that had been backed by the 4 Candidates slate. (See
Education Week, April 10, 1991.)

The losing candidates filed suit against the winners, charging that
widespread voter fraud had led to their defeat. They contended that
they would have won the election if a number of improperly cast ballots
had been disallowed.

Lawyers for the winning slate argued that not enough cases of
potential fraud had been reported to change the outcome of the
election. Circuit Judge Edward M. Peek dismissed the suit last
week.

A former Georgia teacher of the year who lost her job despite being
acquitted on marijuana-possession charges has asked a federal appeals
court for a hearing on the incident.

A lawyer for Vicki Sherling told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
11th Circuit that a federal-court hearing was necessary because the
Colquitt school board cited the drugs charges when they dismissed her
in 1989.

Mrs. Sherling was arrested along with her husband when police found
marijuana plants growing in their backyard. Mr. Sherling pleaded guilty
and was sentenced to serve 3 years of a 10-year sentence, but Mrs.
Sherling was cleared of any charges. Although she was the 1989 teacher
of the year, the board dismissed her. (See Education Week, Sept. 13,
1989.)

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